Sydney IGA's blazing response after 'unfair' claim

IGA seems to have made a blazing response to research claiming that it is the most expensive supermarket in Australia by consumer group CHOICE.

A shopper at a Ritchie's IGA in Taren Point, Sydney was stopped in her tracks by a massive sign.

Titled "comparison", the sign shows two imitation receipts – one from the IGA the customer was standing in, and the other from the nearby Woolworths in Caringbah.

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Much like the research conducted by CHOICE (which compared the prices of a basket of 14 items from Aldi, Coles, Woolworths, and IGA), the supermarket displayed prices of the same 32 items on each receipt and included arrows marking promotional prices.

The items included things like rump steak, mandarins, Tip Top bread, carrots, toothpaste, pet food, and more.

The end result showed that unlike CHOICE's findings, IGA ended up being the cheaper option. While the Woolworths haul came to $172.35, the IGA one came to $169.27 – about $3 cheaper.

The display comes days after the supermarket's frustration at what they deemed was an "unfair" price comparison by CHOICE.

IGA sent the following statement to 9honey Money in response to the findings.

"The Choice research team has knowingly compared the pricing of independently owned small local grocers to full range Coles and Woolworths supermarkets," it read.

"It is disappointing that Choice acknowledges IGA stores surveyed vary widely in range due to their independence and are not of similar size but continue to include their findings regardless.

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"We engaged with Choice as soon as they released their first report last year, outlining our concerns with publishing results based on unfair comparisons, but they have continued with the same approach each report."

The statement continued: "For transparency, we would also like to see Choice make it more clear to consumers what private label and proprietary products are being compared, as some are not like for like comparisons.

"IGA stores have a differentiated range, specifically tailored to local shoppers with brands you cannot find anywhere else.

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"This is frustrating for the hundreds of independent IGA owners across Australia who are supporting their local communities.

"It is unhelpful to consumers, Government and regulators who rely on the Choice team to conduct fair, comparable, and thorough research," IGA added.

When asked about including IGA in the report, CHOICE chief executive Ashley de Silva told 9honey: "The thing about IGA is it's a franchise store model, so they have quite a bit of variability in their range – more so than some of the other stores."

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Aldi is also modelled quite differently to Woolworths and Coles, de Silva explained, "because it has a lot more house brand products".

"But we make sure we include IGA, because not every state has actually got an Aldi, and we don't want the analysis to just focus on Coles and Woolies," he said.

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